Well, it made our lawyer
look pretty sick; and it knocked Tom silly, too, for a
little spell, but then he braced up and let on that he
warn't worried -- but I knowed he WAS, all the same.
And the people -- my, but it made a stir amongst
them!
And when that lawyer was done telling the jury what
he was going to prove, he set down and begun to work
his witnesses.
First, he called a lot of them to show that there was
bad blood betwixt Uncle Silas and the diseased; and
they told how they had heard Uncle Silas threaten the
diseased, at one time and another, and how it got
worse and worse and everybody was talking about it,
and how diseased got afraid of his life, and told two or
three of them he was certain Uncle Silas would up and
kill him some time or another.
Tom and our lawyer asked them some questions;
but it warn't no use, they stuck to what they said.
Next, they called up Lem Beebe, and he took the
stand. It come into my mind, then, how Lem and Jim
Lane had come along talking, that time, about borrow-
ing a dog or something from Jubiter Dunlap; and that
brought up the blackberries and the lantern; and that
brought up Bill and Jack Withers, and how they passed
by, talking about a nigger stealing Uncle Silas's corn;
and that fetched up our old ghost that come along
about the same time and scared us so -- and here HE
was too, and a privileged character, on accounts of his
being deef and dumb and a stranger, and they had fixed
him a chair inside the railing, where he could cross his
legs and be comfortable, whilst the other people was all
in a jam so they couldn't hardly breathe.
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